Update: UAPB and Alcorn State adjusted the schedule since the writing of this story and will now play one game Monday at 3:30 p.m. with a Tuesday doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.
Weather delayed the start of this weekend’s University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff softball series by three days, and the Lady Lions will be hoping the delay didn’t cool their momentum.
UAPB will host Alcorn State in a Monday doubleheader at 1 p.m. with game three set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Torii Hunter Softball Complex.
UAPB (10-20, 5-7 SWAC) is coming off a big road series victory at Texas Southern, the second place team in the SWAC West Division. The Lady Lions won two of three games in the Houston area last weekend, which could prove vital as they battle with Grambling State and Southern in the standings for the last two spots in the SWAC tournament from the West.
Alcorn State (6-20, 1-11) has lost six straight after being swept by Grambling and Prairie View A&M the past two weeks. The Lady Braves have the SWAC’s second-worst team ERA, 8.30. In conference games, their ERA drops to 11.43.
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They are hitting .280 this season. That ranks fifth in the SWAC overall, but they have struggled in league play, hitting a league-worst .214.
UAPB sophomore pitcher Kayla Adams was named SWAC Co-Pitcher of the Week after going 2-0 against TSU. This was her second weekly honor in the past three weeks. She has the league’s best ERA at 2.42, and her 119 strikeouts are well beyond any other SWAC pitcher.
Adams is 5-3 in SWAC games with all three losses coming in games in which UAPB’s offense was shut out. The Lady Lions scored three or more runs in each game against Texas Southern after being held below that mark at least once in each of their previous three SWAC series. UAPB scored one run in three games the week prior against Prairie View A&M.
Alcorn’s primary pitcher this season has been senior Ta’Niyah Fletcher with 14 starts and a 7.70 ERA. She was the winning pitcher in five of Alcorn’s six wins this season. Olivia Miller (6.43 ERA) is the only other pitcher with a win, but she is also Alcorn’s top hitter with a .419 average and a team-high 18 RBI.
The Lady Braves have allowed seven or more runs in each SWAC game except their lone win, a 3-2 victory against Southern. If that trend continues, Adams will have a good opportunity to deliver two wins and secure the series. The biggest question will be the middle game of the series. UAPB has yet to win a SWAC game this season Adams didn’t pitch.
Sophomore Heidi Price has pitched the middle game the past two weeks with typical starter Danika Bryant out with a shoulder injury. She gave up eight runs to Prairie View and six to Texas Southern, though only two of TSU’s runs were earned. She took a lead into the bottom of the seventh inning before two errors cost UAPB the game.